"nimrod's Folly"

It was a moment of folly, a church in Northwest Iowa prefers to forget. Busting at the seams, they broke ground on a new building in the early eighties. Their sanctuary and parking lot would double in size. Featured too were a large kitchen and fellowship hall and many a classroom and extra nursery space. It was the talk of the town and members felt rather good about themselves. Months later, with a preliminary structure in place, the building committee wet the town’s appetites with a series of night tours. Indeed, it was going to be a grand building boasting the tallest steeple in town.

And the members came away thrilled from their first looks - that is until the old widow spoke up - I really like the looks of this – but where are the organ and piano supposed to go? Suddenly there was a lot of babbling – some of it was rumored in the local paper to be quite loud. In all their efforts and pride to build the ultimate church building – They left no consideration for the organ, its pipes, and the piano. The story is painfully true. Blueprints were redrafted. Part of the structure taken down and rebuilt – all because they had forgotten why the building was there in the first place – to worship God – rather than be a monument to themselves.

The Labor Day Holiday Weekend we celebrate holds similarities – a pause to celebrate human accomplishment and what the worker has done. The basis for this holiday came in 1882 as the government sought to quell the work riots spreading across steel mills and factories. To soothe the conflicts – After much brainstorming, they declared a holiday to honor the accomplishments of workers – shutting down the seven day a week factories. Clearly God’s design for the Day of Rest was clearly long rejected by society at large.

On the one hand, it was a win. The riots stopped. In time, worker’s rights, child labor laws, and the 40-hour work week were legislated. But on the other hand, it was a loss - forgetting in our pride our ultimate provider and sustainer. Having just recited Question and Answer 1, consider its reminder that rather than live for ourselves and our achievements, we live in service to Christ whatever our calling.

That is why Babel is such a fitting story to consider. It also helps answer recent questions coming up in pastoral care visits. It came up at our last Shepherding Elders meeting with hopes of finding Scriptural answers to questions like - Why is our world coming apart at the seams? Why is there this collapse of simple decency in society? What happened to my neighbor’s loving neighbor? Babel is a good place to begin. And in the weeks ahead we will discover more answers when we study Exodus.

Now Scripture does not mention by name Babel’s founders in Genesis 11. But in Genesis 10:8, we meet Nimrod. He is the grandson of Ham, Noah’s son, making Noah his great-grandfather. That makes Nimrod the fourth generation of post flood humanity. The flood wiped out humanity except for God mercifully sparing Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives.

Genesis 9 ends the flood story. Genesis 10 offers the listing of Noah’s descendants. But chronologically, we have many reasons to believe Genesis 11 happened first. That means Genesis 10 takes place after the Tower of Babel event. And our takeaway is God shames those who try to build a name for themselves at God’s expense. He is the reason we have our giftings to work and to celebrate the fruits of our labors. But too many forget this.

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, God commanded them in Genesis 1:28 “to be fruitful and increase in number; to fill the earth and subdue it.” Nearly word for word, God repeats this command in Genesis 9:7 to Noah and his family: “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it. And first all is well. Genesis 11:2 reveals their obedience by extending their reach on the earth. Verse 2: “As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.”

That brings us to the era of Nimrod and his folly.

In Genesis 10:10, we read, “The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erect, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Ninevah, Rehoboth, Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah, which is the great city. Nimrod and his immediate descendants held a leading role in founding these future cities.

But Nimrod and his extended family like the way things are in Babel. He probably holds some ruling power as well. The generations of ark survivors are together - they speak one language – life is good – why mess this up? Verse 4 – “Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves, and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”